Hidden Message
by SpaghettiTacos
Summary: Stiles receives a bouquet and decides dissecting it is the best way to determine who sent


The usual little ditty. Or not so usual anymore. Been a while. I wrote this for Pen since she's ALWAYS following my psychoses train. Hope you love it! Or at least don't hate it. Special thanks to Jess for editing!

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The vase on his desk made quite the display. The colors and shapes would make better sense in a garden. A community garden. For beginners. Stiles was fairly certain no florist worth their seedlings would put this arrangement together on a whim. This was deliberate. Someone went out of their way to put this exact arrangement together and have it delivered here. To him. Someone bought him flowers. Someone who spent a very long time deciding and collecting the right ones. Or maybe it was someone who just pointed out every flower closest to them in the shop and told the clerk to wrap it up.

Considering he was bored, and he was him, Stiles took a photo and posted it on his blog to see what the flowers were. He recognized most of them but he wasn't entirely sure of all of their names. The ones he knew were the single white rose, the yellow tulip, the chrysanthemums (the only flower in the bunch with a buddy), and the daisy. He was fairly certain the green wrapped around the tall clear vase was ivy, so he decided to count that in as deliberate rather then cosmetic flare from the local florist.

After checking and rechecking several sites, Wicca and otherwise, he'd determined that this was a multi-message vase. A message in a bottle if one wanted to go that far with it. Stiles went that far with it. He found himself deeply amusing. His current list had words like_ truth_ and _innocence_ and phrases reading _'hopelessly in love_', '_worthy of you_', and '_secret admirer_'. The Ivy was for '_Fidelity_'. Someone definitely wanted some Stiles.

He checked his blog and got the names of four more as well as the meanings for two of them. Freesia apparently meant '_spirited_' whereas Hibiscus was '_delicate beauty_'. Stiles definitely wanted to know where these were from. Checking for a card he hadn't thought about initially, he found the one from the florist. Their business name and hours of business with a phone number for the place. On the back was the generic To and From with a space for a little message. This was blank save for the "_Stiles S._" on the "To" line written in what Stiles easily admitted was beautiful handwriting.

The two other given names were Hyacinth and Gladiolus. The former was for _sincerity_ which fit well into One of the Three categories Stiles had created in his head. One being "Admirer Says" the other he figured would fit in when he found whoever it was from. Gladiolus was for '_Strength of Character_', which could fit, albeit vainly, into "About Admirer" or it could go into "Admirer Thinks about Me". Stiles preferred the second option but he needed more.

Looking back at the vase Stiles noticed a flower he wouldn't have seen if he hadn't turned it to find the card. It was a pansy which he knew meant '_loving thoughts_' as it had been his mom's favorite flower to send to his dad at the station. He decided that it was either a poignant coincidence or the admirer knew this fact. The bunched blue behind it caught his attention and he knew he'd seen them so he took another photo of just them and put it into his search engine, which turned up with Forget-Me-Nots. The teen giggled to himself at the irony of "forgetting" this particular flower and forwent looking up the meaning considering the flowers name to be meaning enough.

He had two left and absolutely no idea what to do with them. He'd tried searching their pictures but both of them were the types of flowers amateurs like him called the wrong name. He could have sworn the one was lilac before he'd actually smelled it. The fact it was also blue clicked afterwards and Stiles decided to ignore it on principle.

"Wow. Get bored with your allowance this month, son?"

Stiles turned to look at his father. The man was in his uniform but looked no more worse for wear than when he'd left this morning. Still Stiles scowled at his dad and scoffed.

"They were a gift. Thank you very much." He said, putting his pen and pad on the desk next to the vase.

"Ah.." The Sheriff nodded, "From whom?"

Stiles slumped back and groaned at his ceiling "I don't know!"

He looked back at his dad before rubbing his temples.

"I've looked at the card and besides having my name in black ink it's useless. So I'm looking up the flowers. Or the ones I know at least and I almost have them all."

"Did you get the pansy?" His dad asked with a small smile.

"Yeah," Stiles whispered, he gestured at the two that eluded him, "It's these ones I don't know."

The older Stilinski looked at the two offending plants for a minute before his eyes lit a little.

"Sweet pea." He said, gently poking the purple blooms.

"Seriously?" Stiles said, looking in disbelief. "How do you even know that?"

The Sheriff perked an eyebrow before turning to leave.

"Some kid gave a bunch to me on Father's Day when he was four. Picked 'em "all by his lonesome!" too. See you after work."

"Kay!"

Stiles blushed a little, glancing at a picture on the shelf above his desk before returning to the last of the bouquet. He quickly typed in the name and was given '_shyness_'.

"Well, that's both of us I guess..." Stiles muttered before turning back to his remaining blossoms.

Several long minutes of staring did little more than dry out the teen's eyes. He walked downstairs for a glass of water and stood in the kitchen to drink it before grabbing his cell out of his hoodie pocket and scrolling through his contacts. He hit the green phone button and waited.

"Hello?" A quiet voice said.

"What do you know about flowers?"

"Stiles?" the boy asked

"Yes. What do you know?" The teen insisted.

"Not much... Scott gives me daisies sometimes when we're walking through the park?"

"That is utterly unhelpful. And gross. Ugh."

"You're the one that called a teenage boy for flower advice." The boy replied, "Call Lydia or something."

"Yes. Because Lydia will give me an answer without the third degree. You are no help, Isaac!"

"Hey! I never said I was good at it. Why do you want to know anyway? Gonna send some flowers?"

"No." Stiles said, suddenly defensive of his present.

"You got some didn't you!" The blonde said excitedly. "From who?"

"Nobody. Shut up. Goodbye."

"Awe come on." The boy whined at him.

"No. Bye, Isaac." Stiles said pulling the phone away.

"Wait! Try Boyd." The teen shouted.

"What!?" Stiles said incredulously.

"He likes plants." Isaac said plainly.

"Hmm. Okay thanks bye!"

"Bye, Stiles!"

The teen hung up and called the darker beta. He had to wait longer for Boyd to pick up since he was probably sitting in a corner with his phone on silent. Or reading next to Derek as he pretended he wasn't reading teen novels. He fooled no one.

"Yeah?" Was the answer.

"Really? That's how you answer the phone?"

"What do you want, Stiles?" Boyd sighed.

"A better phone answer." Stiles said.

"I'm hanging up."

"Wait!" Stiles panicked.

"What?"

"What do you know about blue flowers that look kinda like lilac but aren't lilac cause they're blue?" Stiles rushed.

"Was that even words?" Boyd asked.

"Flowers, Boyd! Flowers!"

"That look like lilies but aren't?" The teen guessed.

"Lilacs." Stiles corrected.

"Lilacs. Okay..."

Stiles waited as the other teen thought. He listened to the breathing on the other end of the line as he climbed the stairs to his room.

"Well?" Stiles asked as he closed his bedroom door.

"Stock, maybe? or Myrtle?"

"I don't know what that means."

"Oh my god. Stiles, just Google it or something." Boyd said.

"Don't get huffy with me, I make you food!" Stiles replied.

"I don't know, Stiles. I guess..." Boyd paused, "wait you said they were blue?"

"Yes?" Stiles nodded with the phone.

"Try delphinium."

"Delphinium." Stiles repeated.

"Yes. Goodbye."

The phone went dead as Stiles stared at the plant.

"Delphinium." He put his phone back in his pocket and typed it in. After a quick spell check he had several photos in front of him of the flower in his vase.

"Delphinium. Derives its genus' name from the Greek word for "dolphin" and is suggested by the shape of a gland in the blossoms that secretes nectar." Stiles narrowed his eyes and switched to another tab that had sections for each of the flowers he'd spent the better part of nearly three hours searching for.

"_Boldness_." Stiles huffed in amusement. "Nothing bold about giving flowers and not signing the card!"

"I'd hoped you'd just smile and leave it as a nice gesture."

Stiles whirled in his chair to watch as Derek straightened next to his window.

"What do you think this is? A motel? Knock before you enter someone's house." Stiles said, taking a breath to calm his racing heart.

Derek lifted an eyebrow and moved to the spare chair Stiles used as a place for his laundry basket.

"Don't knock then, but use the damn door for once." The teen said.

"Fine." Derek agreed. "Do you like them?"

"Did you just agree with.. wait what?!" Stiles looked between the flowers and the Alpha several times before concentrating on Derek's pinking ears.

"They're from you." He whispered, mostly to himself.

He watched Derek's expression turn defensive before giving the man a blinding smile.

"Of course they are!" The teen said before giving Derek a crushing (for a human) hug.

The wolf jumped slightly before returning the gesture.

Stiles pulled back to look into Derek's very confused expression.

"Only you could have put this together." Stiles explained dragging his desk chair close so his knees brushed Derek's and taking the man's hands in his own.

"Meaning." Derek said with a guarded look at their joined hands.

"It makes absolutely no sense unless you actually look at the pieces." Stiles said with a content smile.

The alpha's eyes lit even as he rolled them.

"You're welcome, Stiles." He said.

"I like your handwriting by the way?" Stiles commented, rubbing his thumbs against Derek's hands.

"That was the.." Derek started.

"Before you finish that lie..." Stiles said over him. "Lemme give you this."

The teen leaned in to brush lightly against the man's lips. Pulling back to see him with a look of absolute shock covering his features.

"You were lying about the pretty writing?" Stiles said with a smirk.

"Stiles..." Derek whispered, leaning closer.

"Tell the truth, Sour Wolf!"

"I'm very particular about my penmanship." Derek rushed before capturing the teen's lips.

The conversation dwindled from that point. That did not, however, keep Stiles from eventually asking what the gladiolus stood for. 'For you' was all he got, and needed, and the rest of the evening was spent on movies and cuddling and Stiles insisting on moving the flowers next to his bed. It wasn't his fault Derek didn't consider his wolfy senses when picking out such an aromatic present.


End file.
